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The first time I heard the term “hard water” was on TikTok. The reason your skin feels dry and irritated? Hard water. Hair looking dry and frizzy? You’ve got hard water pumping through your shower head.
Naturally, any wellness/beauty buzzword or hack the video-sharing app peddles has me skeptical. Between those omnipresent Bloom greens (that taste horrendous) and a very dangerous-sounding parasite cleanse that went viral on the app (please do not deworm yourself with ParaGuard), I try my best to scroll past any wellness trend that’s a clear money-grabbing scheme.
However, it turns out I just wasn’t privy to the hardness of my water, a very real, scientific term that describes “the amount of dissolved calcium and magnesium in water,” according to the U.S. Geological Survey. While minerals are beneficial to humans and drinking hard water can help calcium and magnesium intake, the high buildup of these minerals (i.e. hard water) can, unfortunately, do some damage to your pipes, skin and hair.
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Behold, a ready-made routine, from a daily sunscreen to our favorite deodorantsEssentially, calcium and magnesium don’t exactly get along with your soap and shampoo. The minerals react to the fatty acids found within those products to form chemicals that coagulate, leaving residue on your skin and hair. Not only can this leave you feeling like you’ve got a layer of scum on your skin even after you’ve rinsed off, but over time, can clog up your pores (leading to acne), cause skin irritation and strip the moisture from your hair. Treated water can also contain other irritants like chlorine. Used to kill bacteria, parasites and viruses in water, all of these added chemicals and heavy metals — while safe to consume — are stripping our hair and skin of natural oils.
Of course, if you feel like hard water isn’t taking a significant toll on your body (most people, including myself up until very recently, don’t realize they have hard water), you can continue to shower in unfiltered bliss. But if you know you have hard water and are wondering if it’s the source of your dull-looking hair and dry, itchy skin, you might want to consider switching to a filtered shower head.
You can pick up a filtered shower head on Amazon, or pretty much anywhere that sells appliances. However, you may have seen a few ads on your Instagram for Jolie, a beauty wellness company offering a very sleek and stylish filtered shower head. Jolie asserts it will “removes chlorine, heavy metals & other contaminants from your shower water” so you can enjoy healthier skin and hair.
Unlike a lot of filtered shower heads that attach to your shower head, Jolie is a one-in-all appliance. The brand’s proprietary filter — called KDF-55 & Calcium Sulfite — sits inside the shower head’s neck. Jolie claims its shower head, which was independently tested by third-party labs, is better than NSF-177 water filtration certifications, the standard for attachable shower filters.
We spent a month showering with Jolie to see if the beauty wellness tool improved how our skin and hair looked/felt and if it’s actually worth making the switch.
The specs:
- 1.56lbs
- 5.3′ diameter, 5.4′ long
- Made of durable ABS
- 125-micron stainless steel mesh filter
- Universal fit (compatible with the 1/2″ standard plumbing pipe)
- Includes a wrench, plumber’s tape and a 1-2-3 install guide
What works
- I have no plumbing experience so I was a bit nervous to install my Jolie solo — especially because I live with roommates and did not want to break our only shower. But to my pleasant surprise, the installation was extremely easy. The hardest part was unscrewing my old shower head, but once I got it off I followed the included 1-2-3 install guide and simply screwed my new one on. But I especially appreciate Jolie for including everything required to install the shower head, including plumber’s tape and a wrench big enough to fit over Jolie’s large-ish neck. (Otherwise, I would’ve had to venture out to the hardware store and would have been annoyed!)
- Besides maybe those waterfall showers the Kardashians have, I’ve never looked at a shower head and thought hey that’s one sexy ass shower head. But I won’t lie, showering with Jolie felt luxurious. You can choose from three color options — brushed steel, jet black and modern chrome. While the shower head is sizeable and has a more industrial vibe, it still manages to invoke a sleek and sexy look — one that elevates not only your bathroom’s aesthetic but your entire shower routine.
- After a few showers with Jolie did I receive a compliment about how “healthy” my hair looked? Yes, yes I did. Maybe I was just having a good hair day, or maybe it was my new and improved shower head. The winter is also incredibly rough on my skin, and hot showers only dry it out more. But since using Jolie, I haven’t experienced that dreaded post-steaming hot shower itch. My moisturizer goes on easier, and can now effectively do its job of hydrating skin. While I’ll need more time with Jolie to ensure the shower head is positively affecting my hair and skin, so far I’m pretty pleased with the results.
What kind of works (or needs work):
- I could’ve used a little more oomph from Jolie in terms of water pressure. Anecdotes from other users describe the water drops as “soft but firm” and equate showering with the filtered shower head to being under a “mini waterfall.” Because of its large, wide head, Jolie does remind me of a rain shower head, which doesn’t often feature water pressure as strong as standard shower heads. For me, it wasn’t a deal breaker and I eventually came around to enjoying the softer droplets. However, I recognize many people have strong preferences about their water pressure and do want to feel like they’re being showered with a firehouse, so it is something to keep in mind.
- Every three months you will have to replace your shower head’s filter, which could be a nuisance for you. It could also be costly. One replacement filter is $36, or you could purchase a quarterly subscription which will bring the cost of one filter down to $33.
Final thoughts:
All in all, Jolie is a very simple way to improve not only your shower and showering experience but your overall well-being. Of course, you don’t need to drop $165 (or $148 if you also purchase a filter subscription with your shower head), if you’re perfectly content with bathing in unfiltered water. But if you are concerned about chemicals and heavy metals, and how they could be affecting your hair and skin, Jolie is a quick, easy (and good-looking) solution. Especially if you’ve been spending money on products to rectify skin and hair issues, it might behoove you to make a change at the root of the problem.
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